Finally Addressing the Modding Gap: Warframe's New Quest Rights a Wrong

The space ninja adventure known as Warframe, a title where you can feed yourself to a giant mouth and pilot futuristic vehicles, has launched a new update. This latest expansion exemplifies the unique whimsy that has become synonymous with Warframe in more recent times.

The new content, made available this week, adds a new mushroom-themed warframe that does a little dance, along with a whole new explorable fungal area. However, it also revisits core concepts, with a new mission designed to making sure this complex, vast long-running online game makes sense to new players.

The Arrival of "The Teacher"

Called “The Teacher,” this is the highly anticipated mission that educates Warframe players on how to use one of the game's most basic — yet most intricate systems: the mod system.

In Warframe, modifications are enhancements that can be added to your character or your weapons to enhance their abilities. These can be simple (increase damage or speed up reload rate) to the incredibly intricate. Dedicated players often produce extensive guides about idealized builds that use powerful mods in combination to create devastating effects.

“I think a lot of people were maybe getting into the early game, encountering mods without grasping their purpose,” explained a lead narrative designer. “We believed it was crucial, at the end of the quest, for players to think, ‘Wow, modding is interesting. I want to try more of this.’”

A Joint Development

“The Teacher” was developed in a collaboration between the original developers, who provided the narrative sauce, and a supporting studio, who designed the mission, which will be introduced to new players.

In the quest, the player is asked to retrieve a component for their ship, but they’re confronted by a formidable foe called Teshin, who removes the player's powers and close-combat arms, and compels them to use the mod system to effectively show its potential.

Many of the external team were already fans of the game, but some were newcomers, according to a principal games designer. This fresh viewpoint that was essential.

“The first thing we did was basically sit behind them and have them experience the introduction and document extensively on all points of confusion,” the designer said. Introductory tutorials presented the mod system. But the team observed these weren't effective for all.

“Certain players missed fundamental guidance where it's flashing on the screen saying put the mod in the slot,” he said.

Addressing a Real Need

Warframe’s mods allow players to create stupidly powerful synergies that turn the screen into a blitz of numbers. But "The Teacher" focuses on different aspects. There will be some long-time players who desire more advanced content, like creating powerful and specific builds. But it became clear that “The Teacher” is filling a real and significant gap for early players — and that doing so isn’t as simple as it looks.

“Numerous subtle adjustments and background details there to just sort of show you what it can do rather than tell you,” the designer said. For example, one of the goals of “The Teacher” is to show how mods can create powerful elemental status effects; in this case, a magnetic effect that depletes protective barriers.

“Adjustments to the armament to be a burst-fire weapon, because it shows off the proc rate more,” the designer said. “However, the goal isn't to explicitly tell players, 'with a basic modification, you only got a low probability to trigger a special damage type.' So how do you tutorialize that without changing it?”

Veterans will naturally recognize these mechanics and grasp their function, but new players have to be taught to notice these details.

“This type of design work that we previously focused on just because our priorities lay elsewhere,” said a story developer. “But part of it not being our focus that players weren't properly taught the modding system.”

Significant Investment

“There’s so much that goes into just making a really simple mission that — honestly — you can complete quickly,” said the designer. “But it's months and months of work for many team members.”

The designer was visibly glowing with excitement over being able to work on a game that he loves — and to craft a mission for one of his favorite characters.

“I love Teshin,” he said. “He embodies everything my younger self found awesome.”

Improving the New Player Experience

In the 12 years since its release, Warframe has been in a consistent battle with its own new user introduction. There are many intricate mechanics that players don’t need to worry about — and won't encounter until hours into the game. And others, like modding, that scale in complexity depending on your level of engagement. An update earlier this year improved the introductory experience so that players could reach Warframe’s complex narrative arcs with reduced repetitive play up front.

With “The Teacher,” it’s clear that the developers are doubling down on a commitment to make sure Warframe’s early game experience doesn’t stay locked in 2013. New players can get their foot in the door — even if they miss the menu prompts.